Need Money Fast? 291+ places to make $100 now

As Sally Struthers used to say, would you like to earn more money? Sure we all would.

Fortunately in the “gig economy,” there are plenty of ways you can earn a little extra cash for your time. Whether it's market research surveys or focus groups or donating your plasma, there are a lot of places that will pay.

I've spent nearly a hundred hours on this post to give you the most comprehensive list of sites that will pay you for something. In some cases, it's your time – doing tasks. In other cases, it's your stuff – selling your used goods and turning clutter into cash.

If you've ever said to yourself – “I need money?” This post is for you.

When I say I spent a hundred hours, it's because I've vetted these sites. You have to watch out for scams too and much of my time was researching the company, checking BBB listings, and making sure you aren't going to get ripped off.

Drive

If you have a car, you can start earning money as a driver! You can earn hundreds of dollars a month working a flexible schedule and that's before bonuses. If you are lucky enough to live in a hot city, there are promotional bonuses (some cities it's as much as $1,000) that can boost your earnings even more.

Each of the rideshare companies have different rules but nothing prevents you from driving for multiple companies.

Start a Blog

You won't be paid immediately but one of the best side hustles you can start is your own blog. In just ten minutes, you can have your own little corner of the Internet. If you play your cards right, as many have done, you could turn that little parcel into a burgeoning metropolis… one that could generate a nice side income for you.

Go Shopping

When you shop online, you should buy through a cashback portal. A cashback portal will give you a small percentage of your purchase back to you, usually as points and sometimes as straight cash, which is nice since you'll be spending the money anyway! Oftentimes the cashback portal will also include coupons that will help you save too.

Listen/Rate Music

Do you like music? Do you like rating? Do you like making money listening and rating music? Get paid a few cents to up to $1 for reviewing music.

HitPredictor – You won't be paid in cash, it's points that you can use to get other things. Use code VIP for 200 points to start.

Slicethepie – Listen to 90 second tracks and leave your 50-word+ review on it. You start off by getting paid just a few cents a song but as you progress you're paid more per review. $10 minimum required to withdraw via Paypal.

Music Xray – Another review site with a ranking system that pays you more as you do more, you can get up to $1 per review which is the highest of any we've seen. $20 minimum payout though.

Tutoring

If you are knowledgeable about something, there will always be places for you to teach that knowledge to others. The follow sites are for tutoring, rather than building your own educational courses and selling them online, and unless it's noted they are based in the United States.

VIPKID – Part-time online English as a Second Language to children, $14-$22/hour

Studypool – Get paid for answering individual questions, as opposed to full tutoring. It also includes work like resume formatting and the like. (more here)

Mock Juror

Going to jury duty is terrible, but being a mock juror is great!

A mock juror doesn't have to go to a mock courtroom, hear a mock case, and render a mock opinion. A mock juror just gets a bunch of documents in the comfort of his or her home and get paid for your opinion and feedback. Legal teams needs this as a trial run for their big cases and you can get paid to read interesting stories and see fascinating evidence… all without a trip anywhere!

Play Games

If you enjoy games like slots, bingo and wheel of fortune, you'll love getting paid to play games. This list contains legitimate places where you can get paid to play various games, usually after watching some commercials or other promotional videos.

They're fun if you're into that sort of thing, you earn a few points here or there, and can convert them into gift cards or sometimes cash.

Test Websites & Usability

Website owners always want to know how users are seeing their websites and you can get paid to do the testing!

How much do you get paid? For example, UserTesting pays out $10 via Paypal for every 20-minute video you complete. That's $30 an hour! All it takes is a computer, a microphone (you will give your feedback verbally), and an internet connection so you can view the website in question.

Test Products

If there is mystery shopping to test the user experience in a store and there is website testing to test a website, it would make sense that companies would pay you for your opinion of an actual product right?

Mystery Shop

Mystery shopping can be a great gig – you get paid to shop!

It's a little more involved. Companies, especially those with stores, will want to get the opinion of the customer as they go through a transaction. For a bank, it might be opening up an account. For a retail clothing store, it might be trying on a shirt and checking out. Sometimes it's just calling up their customer service line with a problem and seeing how the representative treats you.

They just want to “test” their customer experience and mystery shopping is the best way to do that.

Below is a huge list of companies (over 90!) that do mystery shopping, remote call monitoring, or some other “customer engagement research.” We did not vet the companies on this list, we only checked that their websites loaded and that they appear to still be in business. I wish we could've researched this more but that just wasn't feasible. Before you sign up for anything, please review my post about how to spot a mystery shopping scam plus the Federal Trade Commission's tips.

Freelance Writing

My friend Holly, mother of 2 and successful blogger, recently put together a course teaching you how to make more money freelance writing. Read her story here!

This list contains places where you can get a freelance job directly as well as marketplaces specifically for freelance writers. We avoided specific sites (with a few exceptions for very large, very stable companies like Cracked and College Humor) because these can change all the time.

Freelance Work

Outside of smaller or more specific jobs, like transcription or tutoring, you can find freelance work online as well. Many people earn supplemental income as a virtual assistant or performing other non-specific administrative work.

Below are popular marketplaces for freelancers:

Upwork – Formerly oDesk and eLance, this is one of the biggest marketplaces for folks looking for freelance work. They claim 4+ million clients on the platform and you can find anything from design and creative work to IT jobs to customer service, legal, and administrative support.

Guru – Smaller client base, 1.5 million, but also a place where you can post a job for free.

Fiverr – Fiverr is a huge marketplace where you can sell all kinds of work. From products, like drawings and videos, to services, like a review of your website or resume. Fiverr's differentiator is everything costs just $5 at a baseline, though you can sell add-ons like faster delivery, etc; for more. The marketplace is huge and there's a lot of fun and creative things you can do.

Freelancer – Can't beat the name right? Focused entirely on freelancers, their search functionality and qualifications system seems to be the most robust.

People Per Hour – Primarily for designers (everything from logos, banners, and websites) People Per Hour is a big marketplace for services related to the digital world. The marketplace also has SEO, copywriting, video and apps but the strength is clearly in design.

99designs – Primarily for visual design, whether it's logos or a t-shirt, and one of the best known places for it.

Watch TV

Yes, you can get paid to watch television. This is not a joke!

You won't get paid a LOT but you can get paid a little for something you're already doing.

Perk.tv – Formerly Viggle (you redeem your points here if you were a Viggle user), you check in on the App before you watch a show on your TV and then check in at the end. You get some points and redeem them for gift cards.

RewardTV – After 14 years, RewardTV has been shut down.

Search/Surf the Web

Web search engines constantly compete for your business and some of them have resorted to paying you.

Permission Research – You download a software on your computer to understand how people are using the internet. Our goal is to help companies understand digital content trends and patterns so that those companies can give people like you what you want. The businesses and media organizations rely on PermissionResearch to understand how people view and interact with content on the Internet and on TV.

Bing Rewards – One of the big search engines will pay you to search??? That's amazing! Bing Rewards is Bing's program that awards you points each time you search. The rate changes and right now it's 1 credit per 2 searches, up to 15 credits a day on a computer. You get 1 credit for 2 searches up to 10 credits on mobile. You can get an Amazon.com gift card for every 475 points.

Write Reviews

Years ago, I joined Epinions and wrote reviews of products I liked. The model was simple – write a review, get paid a little for every pageview and every commissionable sale the review generated. It was a fun little foray into the Internet and getting paid to write about a product seemed fun. Epinions was later acquired by eBay and shuttered in 2014.

That has not stopped a whole new set of companies to appear offering similar things. Sometimes you get free stuff, sometimes you get paid.

ReviewStream – Write a review, get paid if it meets their quality guidelines (get paid 1/5th if it doesn't), plus bonuses for votes.

Used Books

Bookscouter My best recommendation is to check book prices on BookScouter, which will check the selling price on 55 different vendors. The list will include the offer price, how they pay (Paypal, check, etc.) as well as whether they pay for shipping and under what terms. If you have a lot of books to sell, they can search up to 3000 ISBNs in a single request if you upgrade to BookScouter Pro. There is also historical prices too in case you want to review trends.

Amazon.com Bookscouter will give you Amazon.com's trade in value, where you mail Amazon the book and get a gift card, they will not give you the used selling price because it's hard to compare apples to oranges. You may be able to get more for your book by selling it as a used book on Amazon, so be sure to double check that price. As an example, the trade in value of a book I looked up was $7.87 but used copies were on sale for $19.87.

If you're a fan of Amazon, you might want to see our Amazon hacks, including how to get $5 for using their app!

Junk Mail

I hate junk mail but did you know you can sell it? These are companies that will, in some way, turn your mail into money.

The Hauser Group – They are a marketing company that will mail you letters and ask you to report on them, like when they arrived. You are paid per item reported. They have pretty wide coverage already but you might get lucky if you sign up as an agent. This is often known as a “mail decoy” job.

US Monitor – Another test mail service where you get paid per item reported.

Stock Photos

Fancy yourself a photographer? You could get paid for your photos!

Stock photography has become a big business and you can list your work on a lot of sites, earning a nice little income for yourself. Some sites will take all contributions, others will require you to apply, submit samples, and be accepted.

For example, iStockPhoto.com, owned by Getty Images, requires you to apply to be a contributor. You can submit Photos, Illustrations, Video and Audio but you will need three samples of your work. If accepted, you'll be paid a 15% commission for each file downloaded and if you agree to be exclusive. If you make iStock your exclusive royalty-free agent, you can earn up to 45% with additional attention.

Shutterstock, on the other hand, doesn't have a formal application process and anyone can create a contributor account. You retain copyright for your work and are paid each time your photo is downloaded based on a schedule.

Old Electronics

Do you have an old phone, tablet, or other piece of electronic equipment you aren't using? See if you can turn it into cash! There are a lot of services online that will let you instantly see how much your old electronics are worth and many are easy to use.

I've looked up the value of a good condition iPhone 6 on Verizon, 64GB, Space Gray, and listed it below next to each of the sites. Price quote is from the end of March.

Brightcove – instead of advertising, you sell video and get 70% of sales

Unused Computer Resources

Years ago, I remember installing SETI@Home to donate my computer's unused time towards finding extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI stands for SEarch for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). SETI@home still exists but a new set of companies have cropped up and they will pay you to run an application on your computer – don't do them.

You'll see lists of sites and companies elsewhere, they're usually out of date. Many of the companies (Gomez, Slicify, CoinBeez, etc.) are out of business. Gomez BBB listing states that they are believed to be out of business (you can't even find it on BBB now), though the website is up and taking registrations.

The ones that are left pay out very poorly, which explains why the other guys went out of business! I kept this listing here in case I find anything good but I suspect it's a fool's errand.

Luxury Goods

If you have luxury goods, like high end clothes or accessories, and you aren't using them anymore, why not sell them? Rather than turn to sites like eBay, which everyone already knows about, you can try one of several high end online consignment stores.

The two popular ones are Poshmark and TheRealReal. Both make it dead simple to sell (and buy!) luxury items. The RealReal will pay you 60% of the sale price (more if you sell a lot) and Poshmark has a tiered commission structure. Sale prices under $15 pay a $2.95 flat fee and everything else is just 20%. Tradesy is another company and they take just 9%.

I haven't used every site on this list so if you have and want to share your experience (good and bad), leave a comment below.

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About Jim Wang

Jim Wang is a thirty-something father of two who has been featured in the New York Times, Baltimore Sun, Entrepreneur, and Marketplace Money.

He can show you the philosophies, tools, strategies and methods he used to become financially independent and free to pursue what was important.

One of his favorite tools is Personal Capital, which enables him to manage his finances in just 15-minutes each month. They also offer financial planning, such as a Retirement Planning Tool that can tell you if you're on track to retire when you want. It's free.

He is also diversifying his investment portfolio by adding a little bit of real estate. But not rental homes, because he doesn't want a second job, it's diversified small investments in a mix of properties through RealtyShares (Fundrise if you're not an accredited investor). Worth a look and he's already made investments that have performed according to plan.

Comments

This is an awesome list! Thank you for providing all of this useful information in one convenient place.

We’re traveling the world this year to test out early retirement and might use some of these options to generate a few extra bucks. These ideas are very helpful for folks that are on the move or are just trying to hustle to earn some more money.

Honestly, after 20 years working the corporate day job, I have found the freelance world a little challenging. I have enjoyed it, but still haven’t reached my comfort zone. Of course, I had 20 plus years of work and 20 plus years of school to get comfortable in the corporate world. Might take a little time.

Love the list, Jim! Thanks for compiling everything. Most of these I haven’t tried before, although I’ve spent some time attempting to use User Testing. I’ll have to spend some time picking and choosing which ones might work for me. Is there a freelancing site you’ve personally used and would recommend?

I haven’t used any from the service provider side, but I have used Upwork, Fiverr, and 99designs as a buyer of services and the three are good. Upwork is the most sophisticated with Fiverr being more transactional and 99designs was mainly design work.

Great list! I’ve used Poshmark to sell clothes/accessories. You take up to 4 photos, add a description, and set a size, color, and brand. I’ve sold 3 items so far (two dresses and a pair of shoes) and it’s easy. The buyer can purchase at listing price or make you an offer, to which you can counter-offer. At all times, you can see what your profit will be from your listed price. Once the transaction is accepted, you are emailed a prepaid shipping label to print. You package your item up in a brown box and ship, and when the seller receives it your funds are released. You can cash out as a direct deposit to a bank account at any time or use the funds to shop. I’ve also purchased a pair of jeans on the site and they arrived as expected. For like-new and designer labels it’s a great way to clear your closet and make a little cash all at once.

I love the idea and that they make it so easy because the retail world is due for this type of disruption. This doesn’t happen as much with jeans and other daily wear items but those things you wear less than half a dozen times, like more formal dresses or accessories, just collect dust. You might as well recapture some of the value by selling it. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Thanks, Jim. This is the most comprehensive list I have ever seen. Thank you for putting in the time and getting it all together. As an At-Home Mom I am always looking for gigs. My kids love to make a little cash, too, but are too young for “real” jobs so we will be putting these ideas to use this summer.

Great list! I just created an article of 100 ways to make money online (and also had it translated into Spanish, lol) – but it looks like I’ve got a few more to check out thanks to your list! I appreciate the share.

Many of the places will send gift cards and whatnot, so if you can convert those into something you can use in Ghana, then I’d say go for it. Some places, like User Testing, will pay via Paypal – which presumably you could convert into local currency?

This list has given me hope that I can, with my busy schedule, have multiple viable side gigs. Ive already started racking up points with swagbucks and actually bought TP from amazon with a gift card I earned doing surveys.

I’ve done mystery shopping for about 10 years now. I started with Shadow Shopper…what a joke. I quickly learned…never pay anyone to get jobs. There are plenty of legit companies willing to pay YOU! I’ve been with Confero from the beginning and pretty much do one store for them, with over 100 locations in my area. I’ve made over $200 in a month, but most times around $50. I also belong to A Closer Look, ALTA360, Bestmark, Intellishop and Market Force. A Closer Look has very few shops, but they pay more, like $40 for a flooring shop. Do your research and you’ll be fine.

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